Snippet Which Magazine UK.

[geezer123]

Which Magazine is a highly respected consumer publication in the UK....

Found this on their blog regarding the top digital scams of 2016 and how to avoid them.

https://blogs.which.co.uk/technology/security-software/digital-scam-watch-2015/

Stock photo payment scam

If you have a website or blog of your own, chances are you also have some images on it. You may have taken these images yourself, or obtained them from a legitimate stock photo website.

You might receive an email from a legitimate-sounding company stating that your images are unlicensed or copyrighted by them and that you must pay them for using them.

Do not send them any money. For the most part, you’ll probably know where the images on your own website come from and just who owns them. In the off chance that you don’t (you just grabbed them from a Google Image search, for example) it’s highly unlikely that the owner will hunt you down and demand payment.

The worst case scenario is that you’ll receive an email from the true owner asking for accreditation or for you to remove the image. Do not send money to anyone claiming rights to imagery, no matter how threatening they may sound, without them providing further evidence and conducting your own research first.

Yet further evidence that Getty or LCS may be dancing in the dark and may not actually hold the exclusive copyright to progress matters to court..

Some questionable business practices being displayed on this web page.....

Are they suggesting rights owners tell lies when they declare exclusive copyright?

https://support.500px.com/hc/en-us/articles/205330167-What-is-License-Compliance-Services-

[John Walmsley]

The original post on WHICH? raised eyebrows because many thought it badly researched.  WHICH? has now removed it and posted this short piece:


"Stock photo payment claims

[Update 10 May 2016] – We have removed this advice because there is insufficient hard evidence that this is a scam. You should always seek the relevant rights and permissions and make any necessary payments to use a copyrighted image or photo before publishing it – or any other content that you do not own, or have not taken or created yourself.

If you are contacted by a company that claims you have infringed copyright, do not ignore it – do what you can to verify the claim and engage with them to establish the best course of action. If you have reason to believe the claim is not legitimate, for example if they are claiming copyright over images you took or created yourself, please report the issue to Action Fraud. "

[victim2]

 "(you just grabbed them from a Google Image search, for example) it’s highly unlikely that the owner will hunt you down and demand payment."
Well actually most professional photographers have seen a large proportion of their income being replaced with "help yourself from google images" and are doing exactly that, hunting down copyright infringements and forcing payment. Not only is this a perfectly lawful thing to do, but in 2012 the Government introduced the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court Small Claims Track to help and encourage them do it.